Grammar checkers, observations, not reviews

I use grammar checkers and most of the time they provide the kick in the pants I need to stop being lazy.

I have Whitesmoke on this machine and the free version of Grammarly on my laptop. I paid for WhiteSmoke because I got a deal through PC Mag. -As I type, you can buy Whitesmoke premium lifetime for $99.

Grammarly also has periodic specials, but they are yearly subscription discounts. I’ve never seen any sort of lifetime deal.

Basically, the two I use are just OK. Then again I never expected them to turn me into Hemingway.

I only have a couple of complaints:
First, and biggest, they are online only.

Second they have limits.
For instance, using WhiteSmoke With WordPress in the text screen it will make you nuts as it decides that HTML markup should be something other than what you want. I know it’s not an HTML editor, but shouldn’t “add to dictionary” work regardless? –The solution is to use it on the visual editor.
And WhiteSmoke restricts edits to no more than 3000 words at a time.(including spaces)

Grammarly isn’t quite so annoying and as long as I’m logged in, “add to dictionary works.” However, I’m using the free version, which is limited to the basic services.
Grammarly also says: In any 30-day period, you can check up to 300 documents or 150,000 words. In any 24-hour period, you can check up to 100 documents or 50,000 words. (I believe that includes spaces)

The most important thing; they are grammar checkers, not editors, and like most tools, they do what they were designed to do and nothing more.

But if you want something to do a quick run through of whatever you’re working on, checking for commas, spelling errors, and basic grammar, grab one. At the end of the day, they’ll save you a lot of drudgery.